<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Rigel Black Scrapbook by Tsume_Yuki</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28487121">Rigel Black Scrapbook</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsume_Yuki/pseuds/Tsume_Yuki'>Tsume_Yuki</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Rigel Black Chronicles - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Female Harry Potter, Gen, Inspired by The Rigel Black Chronicles, Post ruse reveal - spoilers, Ruse Reveals, Snippets, fic dumping ground</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:15:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,003</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28487121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsume_Yuki/pseuds/Tsume_Yuki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I’ve given up; I’m just gonna post the stuff I write for Rigel that have no relation to any of my actual Fics here.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>224</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Rigel Black Chronicles Appreciation</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. in a moment (of this i am sure), i shall softly and suddenly vanish away</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p><br/>
“What are the chances that the boy is our Lord’s son?”</p><p> </p><p>The question hangs in the air between the three of them. Severus eyes him and Lucius eyes him back, already feeling the noose of the Unbreakable Vow tightening around his neck, hissing a wordless warning. But it’s not news that Lucius is seeking, only clarification. He does not wish to know where the boy is now, does not need to know where the whelp has taken up residence or how he is hiding. He only wants to know more about the boy.</p><p>Slowly, the vow simmers down, coiling like a viper in his veins. He should never have offered up an unbreakable vow to the boy, should have just left it at Draco because then he would be able to hunt the child down.</p><p> </p><p>What would it hurt, he’d thought. He might even be able to reel Sirius Black back into the fold through the close connection, he’d thought. A child raised by the wild Black in conjunction with the Potters would be too altruistic to ever call them upon it, he had oh so stupidly thought.</p><p>He hadn’t been dealing with the Black child at all.</p><p> </p><p>“I have no idea what you are insinuating, Lucius.”</p><p>“He speaks Parseltongue, the level of magical power, why would he-“ He doesn’t finish the question.</p><p>There is only one reason that, should he have had a child, their Lord would hide their existence. For the very same reason that boy had so aggressively avoided shedding any blood, had meticulously kept track of any and all shed hairs and flaking skin. He had even warned Draco, had told the Malfoy Heir to not leave pieces of himself scattered about the place.</p><p>The blatant paranoia should have been a sign, should have raised red flags but Lucius had written it off. It’d seemed only right that Sirius Black should have a suspicious little bastard of a child given how he had behaved in his own childhood. It’d been ironically amusing.</p><p>That should have been a clue crying for attention; he had ignored it.</p><p> </p><p>Narcissa places her hand, fingers long and skin like moonlight, over his own. Lucius gives it the gentlest of squeezes, doing his utmost to keep his focus on Severus. It is hard though, now that the thought has wormed its way into his mind, has began working its way through his veins to eat at the heart of his worries.</p><p>Some child of his Lord, just as magically powerful but a halfblood (painfully exposed on a live broadcast to the entire world, there would be no hiding that) and clearly his Lord had no idea. The man would have been able to control the whelp much easier if he’d known.</p><p>The boy had a bone to pick with Lord Riddle, had met his every request with defiance and disdain, had flirted with the Light, of all things! If the child had known what Lord Riddle did not, it would explain more than a few things. His ability to do what others could not stems from the magic he has inherited, his Parseltongue when it has never been known to appear outside of the Slytherin line (but the boy isn’t pure, that’d been shown by the other who looked like his Lord who had appeared from the cauldron and what if there is not just one but two), even that one moment at the Quidditch match where he had thought his face was bubbling- only, Severus had not reported any suspicions when he found the boy.</p><p> </p><p>Unless he was covering for him.</p><p>But no, Severus had been as devastated, as shocked as everyone. The only balm is that Black, Potter and his ilk had been just as horrified, had been unaware the boy was not their precious Arcturus Black.</p><p> </p><p>“It is dangerous to think such a thing,” Severus states, his voice void of all emotion, his eyes flat as he stares not at Lucius but into the flames crackling within the fireplace. That Severus has only proclaimed it a dangerous endeavour to consider such a line of thought screams more than the man could ever say; he is considering it too.</p><p>It fits far too well. Everything about it fits far too well and from the light to Narcissa’s eyes, she’s considering it plausible too.</p><p> </p><p>Not that he would dare to breathe a word of it in his Lord’s direction. Lucius doubts he would so much as allow the idea to cross his mind when in the presence of the SOW Party leader, especially in a time such as this. Already the press has began to run wild with the story of Lord Riddle’s halfblood bastards, both the boy formerly known as Rigel and the one that had come from the cauldron. The one that had worn his Lord’s face and peered out at them with blisteringly red eyes.</p><p>Of course the SOW Party have officially refuted this bold (too bold) claim but the damage is done. The idea is there and if a man such as Lucius can look upon the concept and think perhaps (even in spite of everything he knows about his Lord), then the average housewife will take it to be the kind of scandalous truth they love to believe.</p><p> </p><p>The possibility is just so very feasible that he cannot help but apply the thought to their every interaction. It would explain the boy’s growing hostility, especially if he had found Lord Riddle to be lacking as a parental figure. Knowing that your blood is actively working against you could very well explain why Rigel- no, the boy. He is not Rigel and so Lucius will not address him as such. No, it would explain why the boy had become so determined to successively ruin Lord Riddle’s every plan, one year after the next to climax in the absolute abomination that had been the final task.</p><p> </p><p>Admittedly, he doubts the boy would have wanted his secret exposed in such a way as it was, ripped away from his control and exhibited to the entire world. If anything he doesn’t doubt that had he won, the boy would be preparing for his fifth year at Hogwarts this very moment.</p><p>“Regardless of his origins, neither I, Narcissa or Draco can aid you in your quest to retrieve the boy. You have seen the memory.” Narcissa had insisted upon it; she daren’t risk one wrong word from Draco dooming him. Far easier to allow all those who wished it to witness the last sighting of the pureblood pretender, to hear his damning words.</p><p>With how capable the boy has proven himself to be, there is a very tangible chance that he shall not be caught. Not even their Lord had been aware of his duplicity until it was forcibly stripped from him. They have no idea who the boy is, where he hales from, what he even looks like. The true Arcturus Black had made that clear when he came forwards with his metamorphic talent and admittance that the imposter who used his name had come to the ruse with his own plan to hide his face.</p><p>The boy had been under Veritaserum when he stated he had no idea what the deceiver’s true face looked like. The Potter chit had been just as unhelpful, living in a dilapidated apartment in the Lower Alleys of all places so this ridiculous ruse could be conducted.</p><p> </p><p>He hopes Lord Potter is dying of embarrassment. Lucius doubts there a lord out there who isn’t affected by this in some way or another.</p><p> </p><p>“Master, the Lord is here.” And speaking of lords affected by this...</p><p> </p><p>Sucking in a deep breath, Lucius stands and allows Narcissa’s hand to slide from his thigh.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He must go greet Lord Riddle now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wrote this for the masquerade but decided I didn’t like it / had a better idea so I figured I’d share now instead.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Bêtise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I needed to work through my Caelum thoughts after FF Chapter 14 <b> So obvious spoilers ahead</b></p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“Teaching you was a mistake.”</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’d had to walk away, had to bite his tongue and leave her there (he’d left, it wasn’t a fucking retreat, she wasn’t worth his time when she threw everything back in his face like that) because, because…</p>
<p>He’d ended up standing in the apothecary, <strike>hidden</strike> behind a row of shelves, brain scrambling to reflect on their entire interaction because it hadn’t gone the way he’d expected it to. She wasn’t supposed to react that way; he was supposed to lead her into a theoretical discussion on what she thought of the potion used to unmask the Rigel Black Bastard (oh, the press may call him the Rigel Black Child, but Caelum is under the belief that his own name is far better for the little bloodthief) even if that hadn’t been the intended outcome. Sure, she’d been squeamish about the prospect of brewing a dark potion, but he’d seen the slight gleam to her eyes that day in Dartmoor; if he’d pushed that little more, she might have gone for it, if only to say they’d done it. Chatting hypothetically over darker potions, that’s something he’d have expected of Potter. She clearly has no regard for the rules of society, given what she’d been up to.</p>
<p>He hadn’t expected Potter to pin the potion on him within the space of a few minutes. But of course he’d been stupid to assume the girl would be willing, for even a second, to speak of his masterpiece when it had so thoroughly ruined whatever ridiculous ruse she’d had going on. How foolish of him to expect someone of her standing to ever be capable of setting aside her inane attachments in order to speak of progress. She’d done the same thing when he went to ask for data on the werewolf, blown him off with an uppity scoff as if she had any right to ignore him- but she’d come back.</p>
<p>She’d come back this time. How could she not, when he had made such obvious and brilliant progress with her shaped imbueding? Eventually the curiosity would get the better of her.</p>
<p>His fingers are pressing up against his temple, massaging it, and Caelum forcibly stills the movement, dragging the flat of his palm down his face instead. The lab looks better now that his mother has finally seen the worth of having a ground-breaking potioneer in the family; there’s better equipment, more ingredients (not that he hadn’t already had a substantial collection but she’s actually allowed him to reach out to her contacts to further amass his supplies) and there are even new safety features for when he finally begins free-brewing. They’re not as impressive as Potter’s, but he’s hardly going to be making as big a series as mistakes as she undoubtedly has in the past.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“Teaching you was a mistake.”</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She can’t have meant that, can she? Not when there is only himself and Master Snape who have even managed to successfully replicate her technique. She hadn’t cared to patent the process, must have known it would be used in ways that she wouldn’t agree with as more came to learn how to shape imbued. Hell, she hadn’t been bothered about using the mermaid's fluke, had she?</p>
<p>Perhaps the main question in this is why is he even stewing over the opinions of a sheltered little halfblood who’d been too busy slumming it with degenerates to truly understand how the society she almost could have belonged to (had Lord Potter made a better choice) works. By the virtue of blood, he’s simply entitled to more than she is. Hogwarts is for purebloods and to think she had aided a halfblood in attending the institution that he himself had never been able to go to… It’s outrageous. How dare she be so offended by the fact he had helped the whelp’s competition, even if he’d had no idea that the potion would be going to a mudblood, of all people. What right did she have to judge him for that? What right did she had to even be surprised that he wouldn’t recognise her, stupid new face or not? What other teenaged girl haunts Mulpepper’s in the way she does? The only thing that had been a surprise was that it had taken so long for her to appear like an apparition to linger at the shelves.</p>
<p>No, instead she’d spent so much time segregated into the slums of the Lower Alleys, developing her brewing skills and, oh, <em>fine</em>. He can be honest with himself at least; he’d been <strike>hurt</strike> infuriated that she’d never bothered to hunt him down during that time when she’d been free. Obviously he can recognise that, from a logically point of view, outing herself to be living in the Lower Alleys would have been handing blackmail material over to him with a ribbon wrapped around it. But then, she’d have been free for the entirety of her holidays; she could have made time for him to discuss whatever mania she’d uncovered or experimented with.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“Teaching you was a mistake.”</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Why had that even <strike>hurt</strike> made him recoil anyway? It’s not as if she shouldn’t have expected him to use his new knowledge to further his own ambitions. It’d been an intellectual challenge; could he apply this exceptionally dark magic for making a body into a potion, could he change the golem aspect to take on the features of the mind that would inhabit it? Yes, Caelum hadn’t been blinded to the fact this potion was clearly going to hurt someone but… but he’d approached the task with the same mentality he’d had when suggesting the Coquere Cerebrum as their joint brew; more of a ‘could he’ than a ‘should he’. What did it matter if he wasn’t going to be the one to use it? It’s hardly like Potter will rat him out for it. Even if she did, he never explicitly admitted to brewing that potion, had just stated he had no idea what she was speaking of.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“Teaching you was a mistake.”</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hardly. How could it possibly be a mistake when he has made so much progress? How could it possibly be a mistake when it parents both look upon him now and see some worth to his dream? How could she possibly think that when Potter had looked his way yesterday, as they passed each other in the Potions Guild for the first time since that encounter in Mulpepper’s?</p>
<p>Why the fuck had her blatant dismissal (chip tipped up, lips in a hard frown and her magical practically incandescent in the way it screamed ‘fuck off’) affected him so much that he’s sitting here in his lab mulling over the thought of it all when he could be brewing? The parchment in front of him is near blank, only four letters on the page in a hand that’s just a little too rushed- <em>brat</em>. He shouldn’t feel the need to write to her anyway. Shouldn’t have even considered it when she thinks it’s a <em>fucking mistake</em>-</p>
<p>But he’d wanted to talk to her. Purely in the hypotheticals, never giving away the fact it was him and not the mysterious brewing down in Knockturn who they hadn’t been able to reach. He’d fully planned on leading Potter towards the conclusion it was that brewer that’s out there selling her Protection Potion, but he hadn’t even been able to get a word in edgeways before she’d cut to the heart of it. He’d wanted to talk to her even without crooning about the greatest achievement of his lifetime (<em>so far</em>) because- <em>fuck</em>. Because she’s the only one he’s got in his life that actually gives a flying fuck about his passion. His mother might finally be happy with something he’s achieved, but she sure as fuck doesn’t listen to what he’s saying. Caelum plucks up the quill again, tapping the nib against the rim of the ink pot but, as soon as it’s over the parchment, all the words leave him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“Teaching you was a mistake.”</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She doesn’t have any right to be upset over all this anyway; Potter was too busy running riot in the Lower Alleys to consider, for even a second, that the bloodthief she’d sent up to Hogwarts wasn’t actually a pureblood at all. And she’d acted all offended when he admitted to selling the Liberespirare potion (which he would not have done if he’d known it was going to a mudblood) as if even mattered to her what he did with his own share. It’s not like she was put in danger by any of it, was she? What right does Potter have to get all huffy about what he does, like it directly affects her or something? Admittedly, his potion creation has led to her being ousted from her quaint little shantytown, but what does that matter in the grand scheme of things? One bastard little halfblood had managed to beat two purebloods, so what? Potter’d obviously been helping him along; Caelum would recognise one of her brews anywhere- the bloodthief would never have survived the dragon fire without her invention of that potion and whatever else he’d bene sprayed in. And she must have been the one to supply the bastard with that Dark Defence Disk that- that’d stopped the killing curse.</p>
<p>He’s not touching that subject now, doesn’t dare to. <strike>He’d read the one interview Lady Potter had given on the topic obsessively, how she’d described that inspiration had come from how her daughter revolutionised potion making and had then looked into how to apply the theoretical of that to her own field.</strike> It doesn’t matter. He has what he wanted now. His mother is proud of him and, though he cannot openly claim to have created the potion that supplied the terrorist with a body, he can state he has the same capabilities as that mysterious brewer. No one will think to question him; after all, what connection can he possibly have to someone who as been terrorising the Lower Alleys.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>“Teaching you was a mistake.”</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It wasn’t. And he doesn’t care if Potter thinks it was. He doesn’t.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>